I wanted to highlight that as Covid-19 restrictions ease, more than 110,000 people with blood cancer and blood disorders, including stem cell transplant patients, plan to shield. Anthony Nolan is warning that these patients are being left in the dark by the government.
What makes the pandemic more concerning for this group is that they are immunocompromised and more vulnerable to Covid-19. Studies have found that 34% of blood cancer patients who contracted the virus did not survive. This risk is substantially higher than in the general population.
Worryingly, a recent study suggests that only 13% of people with blood cancer had an antibody response after one dose of the Pfizer vaccine meaning that, every day, they are faced with difficult choices around returning to work and public spaces while remaining extremely vulnerable to the virus.
We are urging the government to do more for these patients. We’d like them to fund more vital research to enable patients to return to normal life with the rest of the UK, and make certain that everybody that needs treatment, and support, can access it without delay.
Readers can write to their MP at anthonynolan.org/leftbehind, call our support line on 0303 303 0303 or visit anthonynolan.org.
Henny Braund, CEO, Anthony Nolan.
Long Covid injustice
Firstly, let me state that I have every sympathy with those left suffering long Covid.
However, while not intending to detract from or belittle their battles, what is increasingly uppermost in my mind, is the number of people like myself who have lived with ME/chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) for decades, and had little or no acknowledgement, support or care.
ME/CFS are all but the same conditions as long Covid, with symptoms being virtually identical.
Yet, over the decades many of those with ME/CFS have been totally dismissed and treated despicably.
I believe very strongly that it is now time for all those in the medical world to acknowledge the great injustice that has been done to ME/CSF sufferers, and accord us the same level of care and compassion being given to long Covid patients.
Judi Martin.
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